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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human
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this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at america250.org,
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Wasn't that delicious? So good.
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Your bill, ladies. I got it.
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No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.
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I insisted first.
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Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly.
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People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash
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credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.
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Okay.
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Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.
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No. The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash terms apply. You ever heard anybody say I'd do that job for free? It's one more thing. Armstrong and Getty. One more thing.
F
I've said that about a lot of things.
E
Yeah, me too. I like to say, when it turns out somebody's making, you know, $50 million, I'll set for half that. It's my favorite. Ah, before we get into that, were you ever a Dr. Demento fan? Radio personality, really?
F
I'm familiar with him.
E
He would feature wacky songs and song parodies and stuff like that. He has finally called it quits after 55 years.
F
I didn't know he was still alive on the radio.
E
Dr. Demento, real name Barry Hanse, been doing it 55 years, introducing audiences to figures such as Tom Lehrer and cult songs like Fish Heads. He also is is revered and condemned for popularized, popularizing and mentoring Weird Al Yankovic. It was a big booster of Weird Al's breakout song, Another One Rides the Bus, a parody of the obvious queen title portrayed with wit and aplomb by the Office's Rain Wilson in the underappreciated 2022 biopic Weird the Al Yankovic Story.
F
I've heard that's a good movie. I didn't see it.
E
You know, I've heard it is too. I don't watch many movies at all, but I could see watching that someday maybe when.
D
Judy.
F
You know what my son and I watched last night like the first third of. And he actually liked it. He's 14. Odd thing for us for a kid to like Annie hall by Woody Allen.
E
Really.
F
I was watching it the other night in the middle of the night. I mentioned it last week because I couldn't sleep and I thought, I'll bet Henry would actually like this. He actually did like it.
E
He's a pretty cerebral kid.
F
It's a very cerebral movie.
E
Yeah. And the, the comedy, the. Well, the humor is all pretty cerebral too. So, yeah, not surprised. So this guy's real name, Barry HANSEN, he became Dr. Demento after getting a master's in folklore and ethnomusicology from UCLA. I was gonna do that and joining the Freeform FM radio station KPPC in Pasadena, 1970. And he's been on the air since 1970 in one form.
F
Radio is so much cooler. Way, way, way back in the day.
E
Oh my God. Yeah. You know, it's funny, I was thinking about that. Why was I thinking about that? Because I think about music a lot. I was thinking about the, the dawn of album oriented rock radio, AOR as we called it in the business where they would actually. Where it went from no song can be more than two and a half minutes long to here's an album side, we'll be back afterward. And just as a music freak, how incredibly cool that is was.
F
Yeah. And it was because also you couldn't stream every single song you ever thought of. Anytime you wanted it, you either owned the album or you didn't.
E
Right. And even if you did, you enjoyed it. And to hear, like, somebody's whose musical opinions or Persona you respected and liked, say, hey, this is a great album side and it's one of your favorites, that was cool. Well, you listen to it kind of for the affirmation too.
F
And then prior to the, what, late 70s, mid-70s, there was no recording device that you had in your car. So even if you owned the album, you couldn't listen to it in your car. Unless you're Elvis and had a turntable in your car.
E
Yeah. Or like the Rolling Stones had. I know Keith Richards had a little turntable in his glove compartment. Presumably you'd have to listen to it through the speakers in the little turntable mechanism.
F
I've seen the one in Elvis's car. Wherever, wherever that is might be the Peterson Auto Museum, but somewhere they've got Elvis's Cadillac that's got a turntable in it.
E
And were the speakers just part of the same, like, little console thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which seemed crazy cool at the time, but I mean, how often would it skip if you're driving?
F
Always.
E
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. But, yeah, I'll bet there are libraries full of, like, old timey, you know, early days of AOR radio out there, college stations and stations.
F
I grew up in the middle of nowhere and we had no FM radio and I could pick up a couple of AM stations barely from very, very far away. So like, lots and lots of music that everybody grew up on that's, you know, from our age group. I never heard, I didn't even know it existed. There was just no way for me to be exposed to that sort of thing. And I remember going to Denver one time with some people in college. It's probably like 18, 19 years old. Went to Denver and listening to one of those kind of AR stations you're talking about. I was like, wow, radio stations that play this, that's crazy. I had no idea.
E
Our first boss in talk radio, Ken Cole, was. He was one of the, like, founding generation, founding fathers of Freeform FM radio back in the late 60s, early 70s in New York. Right? Long island in New York. Yeah. And, and we saw it was funny because, you know, he's a news talk guru and really good leader and all. And to see pictures of him back in the day was hilarious. I mean, he looked like he was walking on the stage at Woodstock, but, oh, man, those must have been heady Days, free love, smoking pot in the studio. Damn it, I was born too late.
F
There's an interesting thing that is happening with the democratization of everything. Books, music, movie, acting, whatever, whatever you want to talk about. It's on one hand, there's so much more, more of it and they got rid of the gatekeepers that kept a lot of great stuff out and blah, blah, blah.
E
But there's just so much everywhere all
F
the time that it's lost a lot of its. Something.
E
Well, luster profitability, both of those.
F
Well, definitely lost its profitability by a lot. But just the excitement of discoverings, you know, you finally get to hear this or that.
A
There's just.
F
There's so much everywhere of everything all the time.
E
Right.
F
That it's, it's. I don't know, it's. It's. I can't tell if it's just nostalgia for liking things the way they were when you were younger, which is a natural tendency or if things were actually better.
E
Right. As an economist, weight checking own credentials, not an economist. As somebody with an interest in economics, it's, it's almost. Well, you can look at it just as a case study of two economic systems, one in which there is scarcity, that's. I almost said artificially created, but it's not. Because it was very expensive and difficult to get music from the, the songwriter's head into my home. You had to manufacture equipment and records and ship those records and I had to go buy them. Blah, blah. That was the only way it was going to happen really. As opposed to now, when everything's streaming all the time. There is zero scarcity and there is zero gatekeeping to get to the point that I notice you. And it's two very different economic systems for music, which is what we're talking about. Whether one's better or than the other or not. It's just super interesting to look at the differences. I mean, because there are, there is just. How would you. I was going to say reams. It's not reams. It's oceans of shitty music that you have to sort through or formulaic or created by AI or whatever to get to stuff that really connects with your heart. But at the same time, you know, when, when Led Zeppelin, for instance, was, Was playing their electrified, electrified blues glories to everybody, there were a hundred unbelievable bands that you'd never heard playing great heavy rock just because the record companies only needed a few of them.
F
Yeah, we don't need another one that sounds like this.
E
Yeah, which one's better? Which One's worse, I don't know.
F
Well, and. But it's always changed and it's, it just changes with the technology. Because what book I think is a book about Louis Armstrong early days of jazz, but recorded music, right when it got the ability happened where you could travel around the country pretty easily, trains and that sort of stuff. Then there would be big music stars that would travel around and make lots of money because it was the only way you're ever gonna hear this song is if you saw life. I mean that was the only way. Then radio hit and that really hurt them to where? Well, now you can hear this song on the radio. I don't necessarily need to pay to hear it. Then there was the next step of quickly after that, some way to record it. And then you could buy it and listen to it. And then that changed everything. These were all just happenstance of technology changing. Nobody's like particular idea of what would be best for music.
E
Yeah, I'm sorry, where did you get that?
F
It was from a Louis Armstrong biography.
E
Oh. Because that's such a great companion piece to a book I've touted several times, David Byrne of Talking Heads book how music Works. Because that talks. It's more specifically about the musical styles, how those were affected by changes in society and technology as well. For instance, the crooner era, this is my favorite example because it's super easy to understand. But your Bing Crosby's and, and, and Frank's, Sinatra and all those guys, they never would have existed because prior to the advent of the microphone and effective PAs, you had to sing so much louder you couldn't croon. They wouldn't hear you in the back row. And so that technology led directly to that style. And then, you know, electric guitar amplifiers becoming much better, blah blah blah. You can, you can do some of the rest of the math yourself. But there are a bunch of different examples like that in the book. And I don't know. Human beings need to create music. We've always done it. There is some nostalgia involved with the way it used to be and how great records sounded on big speakers and blah blah, blah. But you know, it's about the human urge ultimately and you know, that'll always exist.
F
I think I like AI music. Who needs something big?
E
God, I was gonna say, on the other hand, you get AI music which feels like somebody reaching a fist down my throat and trying to pull out my sou. I don't appreciate it.
F
I don't know what that feels like, but it doesn't sound pleasant.
E
It sucks. It hurts, Michael. It hurts bad. You know, we've gone on long enough. Why don't we do the I'll I would do that for free thing tomorrow on the one More thing podcast. Any final comments? Mdog yeah, music stores. I remember buying stuff for my sister for Christmas. And you'd go up to the clerk and say, all right, what's a good album? What is something that you'd like? Or whatever. And they'd say, oh, well, this is awesome album here. Why don't you get this one? And I would. And she'd love it. You know, I miss that. Yeah. You know, speaking of music, a friend of mine who really likes to sing and likes music is like sponsoring a karaoke night in my community at like the big bar. But it's scheduled from 6 to 8pm you can't do karaoke when the sun is shining. It's gotta be night. You gotta be drunk.
F
A woman the other day was talking about how she is doing karaoke. She doesn't drink and she's doing karaoke at some workman. I thought people that can do karaoke completely sober, you're a different person.
E
Or you just desperately want people to hear you say,
F
that's a different sort of person, man.
E
I still think fondly of my greatest karaoke moment and I wish somebody had taped it. Oh my God. Partly so I could hear back and think, wow, I didn't sound nearly as good as I thought I did. Ah, karaoke. Michael, what's your karaoke tuna choice, buddy. Angel of the morning by choosing
C
could
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not have come up with a funnier answer.
D
Well, I guess that's it.
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This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to giving 4th. Helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
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Episode Title: I’d Do It for Free!
Release Date: June 1, 2026
Podcast Host: iHeartPodcasts
This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand is centered on the changing landscape of music availability, radio’s cultural evolution, and the nostalgia for discovery before the digital age. The hosts reflect on the past joys and limitations of music consumption, the rise and impact of radio personalities like Dr. Demento, and how shifts in technology have altered not just what we listen to, but how it feels to listen. The titular “I’d Do It for Free!” theme is introduced, but the content is deferred for a future episode as the discussion digs deep into music and radio memories, technology’s effect on art, and humorous karaoke tales.
[02:51 – 06:38]
“He has finally called it quits after 55 years.” – E [02:54]
“He also is revered and condemned for popularizing and mentoring Weird Al Yankovic.” – E [03:12]
[06:38 – 08:38]
“There was just no way for me to be exposed to that sort of thing… I was like, ‘Wow, radio stations that play this, that’s crazy.’ I had no idea.” – F [06:45-07:16]
[07:56 – 10:27]
“There's so much everywhere of everything all the time that it's…I can't tell if it's just nostalgia or if things were actually better.” – F [08:35]
[08:51 – 10:27]
“There is zero scarcity and there is zero gatekeeping…oceans of shitty music that you have to sort through...to get to stuff that really connects with your heart.” – E [09:31]
[10:32 – 12:41]
“Prior to the advent of the microphone and effective PAs, you had to sing so much louder...that technology led directly to that style.” – E [11:46]
[12:41 – 12:59]
“[AI music] feels like somebody reaching a fist down my throat and trying to pull out my soul. I don’t appreciate it.” – E [12:44]
[13:00 – 14:42]
“People that can do karaoke completely sober, you’re a different person.” – F [14:05] “Michael, what's your karaoke tuna choice, buddy?” – E [14:31]
“Angel of the morning…could not have come up with a funnier answer.” – E & C [14:35]
The episode is both reflective and playful, balancing warm nostalgia for radio and in-person music discovery with the realities (and sometimes absurdities) of the modern abundance of digital content. The hosts’ candid, self-deprecating, and humorous tone keeps the discussion lively even as it delves deep into the philosophical and practical impacts of tech on truly connecting with art.
The planned exploration of “I’d Do It For Free” is saved for a future episode, but listeners are left with a rich and engaging meditation on why—and how—music still matters.